Presentation

Born in Angers in 1940, Pierre Briant studied at the University of Poitiers. He passed the Agrégation in history in 1965. After two years teaching at the Lycée Joffre in Montpellier (1965-1967), he spent seven years (1967-1974) as assistant then lecturer in the history of Antiquity at the University of Tours. In 1972, he defended his doctoral thesis, which was published in 1973(Antigone le Borgne). In 1974, he was appointed Professor of the History of Antiquity at the University of Toulouse II- Le Mirail, where he taught for twenty-five years (1974-1998), before being elected Professor at the Collège de France in 1999 to a chair entitled "Histoire et civilisation du monde achéménide et de l'empire d'Alexandre" (2000-2012). He has published extensively on the history of Alexander and his successors (Que-sais-je? 622, 10th ed. 2023; English trans. 2010), and even more on the historiography of the conqueror between Antiquity and immediate history(Alexandre des Lumières, 2012; Ang. trans. 2017; Alexandre. Exégèse des lieux communs, 2016). He has devoted extensive research to the history of the Achaemenid world. In addition to his reference works on the history of the empire of the Great Kings(Histoire de l'empire perse, 1997, trans. ang. 2002; Bulletin d'Histoire Achéménide, 2997, 2001), and on Achaemenid historiography(Sur les traces de l'empire des Grands rois. Enquête historiographique, 2025), in 2000 he founded an international program (Achemenet), whose aim remains to bring together on the Internet all documentation relating to the Achaemenid world. He is Editor of the online journal ARTA, which today remains the only journal in the world devoted specifically to Achaemenid studies and research.

Chair